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6/19/14

Mia Wines - Tasting Event #Austin

#sponsored event

I recently attended a private event sponsored by Mia Wines. The event was held in a beautiful multi-million dollar home overlooking Ladybird Lake in Austin, Texas. The house was simply breathtaking, from the gorgeous views of downtown Austin from the backyard to all the amazing details in the home designed by architect Mark Ashby.

The main event of course was the wine-tasting and being able to sit down to speak with Gloria Collell, the winemaker. She featured five of the wines from her collection of young, fresh, easy-drinking wines. These wines are a reflection of the exuberance of her hometown, Barcelona.

Gloria is a warm and wonderful person, and it was a joy to sit with her to talk about her inspiration for the Mia line. She grew up around wines and has spent the last 20 years working for Freixenet CEO, Pedro Ferrer. She approached him with her idea for Mia wines and was humbled when he decided to entrust her with the entire project. On a side note, "mia" means "mine."

At Gloria's suggestion, I first tasted the Mia White, Mia Rose, and Mia Red. Each is spectacular and very unique. They are truly delicious. If I had to choose a favorite of the three, I would probably have to choose the Mia Rose but I hope to never have to choose.

As the band played in the background, we were also served at least a dozen different kinds of appetizers that were created fresh in the kitchen of the home. My husband and I mingled with the other guests and admired the beautiful home both inside and out.

The warmth of the late afternoon was setting in and we could see storm clouds forming over the dam to the west of Austin. It was a very relaxed, friendly setting for a wine tasting. I was rather amused when I realized I could see the rooftops of the apartments where I lived across the lake when I was attending the University of Texas.

Dinner was also being served with Mia Wines and we even enjoyed a cooking demonstration in the backyard area. It smelled delicious and I was glad that dinner was coming since I'd had a few glasses of delicious Mia wine by that time.

Gloria encouraged us to wait until it was time for dessert to try her bubbly sparkling wines, because she said they went fabulously with desserts. I was very anxious to try the Mia Sparkling Moscato and the Mia Sparkling Moscato Rose because I've always been partial to moscato.

Gloria is such a great person and it was fascinating to hear of all her travels throughout her life and especially on this particular wine tour. Although she was only stopping for one night in the Austin area, she had quite a full itinerary across the nation to introduce Mia Wines.

She sat with us at dinner and we had a lovely (and lively) conversation. As we dined on different dishes and the wines flowed, we chatted like friends. It was also fun to meet another Austin blogger and an Austin magazine writer, as well as the lovely PR rep Sarah Boynton, who invited me to the event.

Dessert was no disappointment. We were served little chocolate mousse cups and little creme brulee cups. As we indulged, we watched the storm's incredible lightening show. The delicious Mia Sparkling Moscato and Mia Sparkling Moscato Rose wines were the perfect complement, just as Gloria said. In the past, I've shied away from sparkling wines, but I am definitely going to stock up on Mia!

I highly recommend you try all of the Mia Wines! I've included some information below about the five different wines I tried at the Austin event, so you can decide which ones you want to try first. Be sure to check out her website at www.miawines.com.

About Me

Hi! I'm Lisa and we live in a very small town in Kansas. Read my blog for product reviews, home decor ideas, travel tips, and more. Follow along as we renovate and restore our 1888 farmhouse. I'm so glad you're here!